UC Patient Care Workers Announced Strike Vote

By Emma Tkachuk

The University of California employees union–AFSCME 3299– announced a strike vote on April 30 through May 2. An estimated 13,000 workers voted; the results are to be released next week.

If the vote passes, the Patient Care Technical Workers in the UC medical system will be authorized to hold a strike if deemed necessary. According to the AFSCME 3299 President Kathryn Lybarger, it might just be necessary.

Despite the $6.9 billion medical system that receives around $300 million in state taxpayer support, the UC administrators are being accused of short staffing, overbooking surgery rooms, providing low quality of care, and increasing the rates of “VIP” treatment.

Patient Care Technical Workers are outraged. The agreement between the UC Administration and the workers expired on September 30, 2012 and since then, the UC Administration has have failed to agree on over a dozen major issues. The UC administrators are asking medical workers to subsidize chronic understaffing. The workers are also concerned about patient safety.

Many Americans are depending on the UC medical system each year and AFSCME 3299 is concerned that the UC Administration’s priorities are misguided.

The Administration, while increasing UC Medical Facilities payroll by $100 million since 2009, has failed to address the increasingly unsafe staffing practices, such as understaffing or staffing workers with less experience, within the UC Hospitals.

Kathryn Lybarger strongly believes that “if the UC continues to hold this process up, our members will be prepared to go on strike.”

But Dwaine Duckett, the University of California Vice President, had a different story to tell. He claims that the announcement of the strike vote was a way for AFSCME to divert the attention of key issues in their contract negotiations with the union leaders. Furthermore, he claims the union is using a poor tactic in using patient care as a tool to gain leverage in their bargaining.

As for quality of care and staffing medical workers with less experience, Duckett reminds the union that UC medical centers are renowned for providing world-class care with high rankings in quality of care, innovation, research and education. Many of the UC hospitals are teaching hospitals; educating new working is a well-kept priority.

According to Duckett, the union leaders rejected all of the UC Administrator’s proposals for the upcoming agreement that included annual wage increases in the next four years of 3.5 percent, quality pension benefits, employee benefits, and health benefits for retirees.

Instead, the AFSCME union leaders are demanding higher wage increases and lower payments for benefits compared to other UC employees.

Duckett thinks that the union’s demands are not fair and that these negotiations could be resolved without threatening strikes, which only endanger patient care.

[Source]: The Prodigy (UC Merced)